Lessons from Nahjul Balagha [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Sermons
Sermon
172

SERMON 172

On eligibility for the
Caliphate

The Prophet is the
trustee of Allah's revelation, the Last of His Prophets. the giver
of tidings of His mercy and the warner for His chastisement.

O' people. the most
rightful of all persons for this matter (namely the caliphate) is
he who is most competent among them to maintain it, and he who
knows best Allah's commands about it. If any mischief is created
by a mischief-monger, he will be called upon to repent. If he
refuses. he will be fought. By my life, (1)
if the question of Imamah was not to be decided unless all the
people were present, then there would be no such case. But those
who agreed about it imposed the decision on those who were absent,
so much so that he who was present could not dissent and the one
who was absent could not choose (any one else). Know that I shall
fight two persons - one who claims what is not his and the other
who ignores what is obligatory upon him.

The need for sagacity
in fighting against Muslims

O' creatures of Allah!
I advise you to have fear of Allah because it is the best advice
to be mutually given by persons, and the best of all things before
Allah. The door of war has been opened between you and the other
Muslims. And this banner will be borne only by him who is a man of
sight, of endurance and of knowledge of the position of
rightfulness. Therefore, you should go ahead with what you are
ordered and desist from what you are refrained. Do not make haste
in any matter till you have clarified it. For in the case of every
matter which you dislike we have a right to change it.

The behaviour of this
world with its adherents

Know that this world
which you have started to covet and in which you are interested,
and which sometimes enrages you and sometimes pleases you is not
your (permanent) abode, nor the place of your stay for which you
might have been created, nor one to which you have been invited.
Know that it will not last for you nor will you live along with
it. If anything out of this world deceives you (into attraction),
its evils warn you too. You should give up (the objects of) its
deceits in favour of (the objects of) its warning and (the objects
of) its attractions in favour of (the objects of) its terrors. And
while here in it, advance towards that house to which you have
been called, and turn away your hearts from the world. None of you
should cry like a maid slave over anything which she has been
deprived of. Seek the perfection of Allah's bounty over you by
endurance in obedience to Allah and in guarding what He has asked
you to guard, namely His Book.

Know that the loss of
anything of this world will not harm you, if you have guarded the
principles of your religion. Know also that after the loss of your
religion nothing of this world for which you have cared will
benefit you. May Allah carry our hearts and your hearts towards
the right and may He grant us and you endurance.

(1).
When the people collected in the Saqifah of Banu Saidah in
connection with the election, even those who were not present
there were made to follow the decision taken there, and the
principle was adopted that those present at the election had no
right to reconsider the matter or to break the allegiance and
those not present could do nothing but acquiesce in the agreed
decision. But when the people of Medina swore allegiance at the
hands of Amir al-mu'minin, the Governor of Syria (Muawiyah)
refused to follow suit on the ground that since he was not present
on the occasion he was not bound to abide by it, whereupon Amir
al-mu'minin gave a reply in this sermon on the basis of these
accepted and agreed principles and conditions which had been
established among these people and had become incontrovertible
namely that: "When the people of Medina and the ansar and the
muhajirun have sworn allegiance on my hand, Muawiyah had no right
to keep aloof from it on the ground that he was not present on the
occasions nor were Talhah and az-Zubayr entitled to break the
pledge after swearing allegiance."

On this occasion, Amir
al-mu'minin did not argue on the strength of any saying of the
Prophet which would serve as his final say about the caliphate,
because the grounds for refusal in his case was in respect of the
modus operandi of the principle of election. Therefore, in keeping
with the requirements of the situation a reply based on the agreed
principles of the adversary could alone quieten him. Even if he
had argued on the strength of the Prophet's command it would have
been subjected to various interpretations and the matter would
have been prolonged instead of being settled. Again Amir
al-mu'minin had seen that soon after the death of the Prophet all
his sayings and commands had been set aside. Therefore, how after
the lapse of a long time, could one be expected to accept it when
habit had been established to follow one's free will against the
Prophet's sayings.